A week an FIR was filed against Bollywood choreographer Ganesh Acharya for sexual harassment, another dancer has approached the National Commission for Women (NCW) alleging sexual abuse.
In her letter addressed to the NCW, the woman claimed that he lured her to the room of a hotel on the pretext of conducting dance classes, and proceeded to sexually assault her. Describing the incident, which took place in 1990, the woman told mid-day, “There were no other students. Acharya said the assistant has gone to bring the sound system and other students. On the pretext of teaching me Jive, he kissed my neck and cheeks.When I resisted, he threw me on the bed and said he wanted to make love to me and marry me. I kept saying no but he kept moving his hands over my body. I was too terrified and told him I am on my period. He finally got off from me and said, 'Kya yaar, mood kharab kar diya'.”
Acharya has denied the claim alleging that it is part of a conspiracy against him.
On Tuesday, 28 January, a woman choreographer filed a complaint against Acharya, accusing him of depriving her of work, demanding commission and forcing her to watch adult videos. She filed the complaint with the Amboli Police Station and the State Women's Commission.
‘Conspiracy Against Me’: Acharya Denies Sexual Harassment Claims
Acharya responded to these allegations by accusing the complainant of conspiring against him and saying he will file a defamation case against her. “This is the conspiracy against me to malign my image, there are people like Saroj Khan and her colleagues who are doing corruption in the industry. Their business has flopped as I have entered the association,” the choreographer told ANI.
“I will file a defamation case against Saroj Khan and her team who are defaming me and stooping so low to do that, they are doing this because their business has gone in vain they used to earn money sitting at home illegally and I am against it so will put all my efforts to fight against them,” he added.
Acharya Associated With Tanushree Dutta’s #MeToo Claims
Acharya, who is the General Secretary of Indian Film & Television Choreographers’ Association, had earlier been named by actor Tanushree Dutta in harassment allegations levelled against him, Nana Patekar, producer Sami Siddiqui and director Rakesh Sarang.
In an interview with Zoom TV, Tanushree spoke about the incident which happened in 2008 on the sets of the film Horn 'Ok' Pleassss, where Acharya was the choreographer. She had accused Nana Patekar of wanting to touch her inappropriately and having insisted on shooting an intimate song sequence in the film, even though it was not mentioned in her contract. Tanushree said that she was subjected to political intimidation after she made the allegations.
To that, he said that he did not remember the incident described by Tanushree on the sets. “But it was a duet song as far as I remember. Something did happen that day because the shooting was also stalled for over three hours. There was some sort of misunderstanding,” said Acharya to News18.
The Quint has reached out to Ganesh Acharya for a response. The story will be updated with the response with it.
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